Bit of a lazy post this one. I have more extensive and expansive posts planned, but they require some research and preparation, and time, which I haven't been able to apply in the past couple of weeks.
So this will just be some disjointed ramblings instead.
-Cutesy baby pic!
I mean, how lazy is that? Instead of mentally exerting to come up with something coherent, elegant and profound, I almost cynically exploit my daughters cuteness instead. Cute babies are surefire crowd pleasers though.This was taken last week when we were both home sick with colds. Charlotte is at the stage where she has reasoned that her feet are attached to her body along with her hands, and that the latter can be used to grasp the former, something which I have always unaccountably found adorable. She is only grasping one at a time at the moment; the super cuteness knockout blow of grasping both and then rolling around the floor remains on her 'to do' list. Along with crawling, although the concept that legs are load bearing structures, and can be used for motivation is clearly taking root, even if the skill hasn't been perfected yet.
-I was going to say quite unmoderated and intemperate things about New Zealand Music Month earlier in the week, but thought it through and got a bit more reasonable. I suppose it has its place, but after 9 years I am not sure it is relevant anymore. It certainly didn't get me thinking about listening to or buying more New Zealand music. I have always chosen based on what I liked rather than when it was made, and have always listened to a reasonable proportion of local product. NZ Music month feels to me at the moment like an officially mandated expression of massive insecurity as a people, somewhat inelegantly touched upon in this blog post here. I mean, do record stores in other countries have sections purely devoted to local product like they do here? If you can't find an artist in the general section, you can look again in the NZ section. It feels a bit sheltered.
-This Blog here (yes I am still reading stuff, in spite of the massively ill thought out and unpopular site redesign) reminded that while I am thrilled at the success of Flight of The Conchords (and can in fact namedrop by saying that Bret Mckenzie occasionally spectates at my indoor netball centre. In person even), and enjoy them very much, I am glad that they are ending the TV show after two series. Its a smart and positive thing to do, preventing sameness and stalety (is that even a word?) stifling the talent. I'm also feeling a bit saturated, especially since I have been hearing about them for years now, ever since Channel Z started playing some of their early material, almost to the point of being a bit over the whole thing. I look forward to whatever the Conchords do next.
Also providing entertainment is the comments thread on the post as it steadily unravels.
-I was trying to get this done by midnight so it would appear under Wednesdays header than Thursdays, thus making it just under a week between posts rather than an actual week. Obviously, fail.
-The lightshow this morning was fun, even if a little too early. Why can't thunderstorms be limited to reasonable hours, say between 8 am and midnight, never when I am working and always when I can get out too watch? I am still keen to try and photograph lightning. Unfortunately, due to the local geography, lightning isn't all that common in Wellington, which explains why a mere thunderstorm can make national headlines.
Only five ramblings then, not even half a dozen. Still, it does qualify as 'some'
2 comments:
I still like NZ Music month, in a low-key kinda way. For me, as always, its about the politics of identity. I remain astonished that "New Zealand Music Month" has become a positive brand that resonates with teh yoof.
Is it needed? Hardly. But the bad old days when the content filters at radio and TV systematically devalued and excluded NZ-produced content are not so far gone. I think we're still very much in a space where letting it ride makes sense.
I rented season one of Flight of the Conchords to see what all the hype was about. (I had already heard some of their music, seen some videos, etc.) I thought it was kinda funny. The boyfriend HATED it. Oh well.
That's interesting about New Zealand music month. The U.S. has so many musicians that there is no way we could separate them out into a "local" section. It's way easier to have a "foreign" section instead. Sometimes we'll have a local section for artists in a particular town, but once they become popular they're not local anymore. They're nationwide.
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